Tire-vulcanizing apparatus



June I? 1924' E. HOPKiNSON TIRE VULCANIZING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 11 1923EMMA "60:. ERA/51 Hommvson ll canizition an "internal Patented June 17,1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST HOPKINSON,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

TIKE-VULCANIZIN'G APPARATUS.

Application filed October 11. 1928. Serial No. 867,846.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I-,'En1vnsr Her-mason, a'citizen 'of the-United States,residing at New York cit county of New York, and

State of New ork, have invented a certain new and usefulTire-Vulcanizing Apparatui of which the following is a full, clear, anexact description.

I This invention relates to the manufacture of hollow rubber articles,particularly pneumatic tire casings, or he like, having an annularinternal cavit It ,is often desirable to apply to the inncr wall of tirecasings dlll'll'l their vul- A flui. pressure. Various apparatus hasbeen suggested heretof re for accomplishing this purpose. But

B0 ar as' known manifold, as" ey are known in the art,

so have consisted of auxiliary parts or apances located either inside oroutsiadbf' the molds while stacked in a press, or located outside of thepress with branch connections through the walls of the vulcanas izipfivessel. A

e'pnesent invention aims .to new and improved construction ing' on theso-called manifold process, a form of construction which is exceedinglysimple, dispenses with attachments or uppnrtenances, enables theoperations at t e vnlcanizers to be performed more rapidly and thevulcanizing cycle in the press-room shortened and possesses otheradvantages as that will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

With the illustrated embodiments of the invention in mind but withoutintention to limit its scope more than is required by the (0 prior art,the discove briefly stated, consists in forming du'cts 1n the severalsections of each mold and branch passages comm'unicating with eachtire-receiving cavity, and in.. itioning a series of the molds be 46tween campin members or press platens with interpo sealing means betweenthe several mo ds and the sections of each mold so as to constitute theducts when registered a header through which fluid under pressure he aplied to the inner walls of the tires.

bod iments of the invention are illush in the accompanying drawings, in

Provide -a by an upper eplaten or head 4,

all prior constructions of 1 a point within t or carry-- dowel the holesthrough register with those contiguous it. But it is vulcanizer of theFrench press type, half of the apparatus only being shown;

Figure 2 is a similar vertical section showing a modification;

And Figures 3 ahd 4 are enlarged details in plan and section, respectivey,- of. the sealing means for closing between molds and their sections.

The invention is shown in the drawings as applied to a French press,having a lower P within a or mouth of which is adapted to aten 1,vertically movable by a ram%- chamber or shell 3, the 11 per en closedwhich may either be fix in which case-the shell 3 is moved upawardlytowards it, or movable to one side y m not shown, but well! own'to thoseskill infthe art. Steam, or other suitable heating fluid, is adapted tobe supplied to the interior of the s ell 3, as we -known, to raise themolds to a proper rature for carrying on vulcanization.

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F uid under ressure may be supplied to ous ways but for the sake of simlici 1' have shown the head 4 equip wit adepending flange 5, which isdrilled,- as m tested at 6, to provide a passageway from an outsidevalve-controlled inc l I Accordin to the invention, a header isconstituted y ducts8 in the several mold sections 9, which are adaptedto be istered with ducts 10, in so-called metallic sealing-rings 11, thelatter being also provided with branches l2 communicating'with theinterior of tires 13, which are mounted in the molds. In Fi re 1, theuipmept illustr'ated is suite. le for "vu canizin'g straight-sidecasings whereas in Figure Q, the equipment illustrated is suitableforclincher casings, the mold sections indicated at. 9' and thesealing-ring indicated at 11 in Figure 2- diflering only slightly incrosssection from the corresponding parts shown e vulcanizing press invarir cracks or-joints in Figure l, the ducts and passages being similarin both cases a'pd the constructions being functionally identical. Thesections of each mold, preferably, have the usual ins, not shown, forinsuring their assemb age in proper relation with the ducts 8 and 10 inregistration. The operator may be relied upon to locate the molds sothat one assembled mold will preferred to provide some additionalmechanical means for insuring pro )er registration of the various molds,suci as the circular bosses shown at 14 in Figure 1, which are receivedwithin sockets 15 of the adjacent mold, or to provide notches 16 for thereception of plates 17, as illustrated in Figure 2. These and otherexpedients may be provided on the inside or outside peripheries of themolds to insure the proper relative positioning of the several molds.

To seal the ]oints between the sections of each mold about the line ofthe registrable ducts 8 and 10, a washer of any suit ble seal; ingmaterial may be employed. his sealing, of course, is to constitute thealigned ducts 8 and 10 in all the molds a header. In Figures 1 and 4, awasher of lead is indicated at 18, this bein preferably made of thethickness indicate in dotted lines i Figure-t so that when the molds arefinally pressed together,the lead 18 wi llbe-squeezed tight] andcollapsed, and the passagewa comp eted from the supply passage 6 throngto the bottommost mold. the duct of which is preferabl closed or deadended by a disk 19 of lea or with any other suitable means. In thedrawings, a dummy section 20' is shown resting irectly on the bottomplaten but, obviously, the bottom platen 1 might be utilized, ifdesired. Of course, an suitable means might be used to close up t e duct8 in the lower mold section, such, for instance, as a plug forcedanywhere in the header be? tween the lower platen and the bottommostbranch passage 12.

In Figure 2 of the drawings, the 'oints between the sections of eachmold an between the several molds are illustrated as being closed by athin apertured Wafer 21 of rubher. which is preferably of vulcanizedcomposition. A coating of a thick cement, referably of a quick-curingcharacter, mig be employed, as also any material of a character thatwill seal the cracks or joints in the several parts.

In operation, a batch of molds that have been through a heat are openedu tires removed therefrom andreplaced wit uncured casin these havingbeen mounted on sealing-rings, such as shown at 11 and 11'. The moldsare then each closed and as a unit transported to the mouth of avulcanizing press. If this be of the French press type, that is, havingan uprightsteam chamber or shell 3, in which vertically reciprocates aplaten, they are stacked one upon another in vertical alignment, theoperators taking care to register the passages in the several moldsections, either with means of their own devising or those shown in thedrawings. Then, the press is closed and the ram 2 operated so as topowerfully clamp to ether the many sections of the molds. In t isoperation of closing the press platens, the col- 1} ready beenenumerated, in

lapsible material 18-21, whatev may be its nature, is mashed or comp soas to constitute the several ducts Sand 1. a header. These ducts beingin line with the supply passage 6, fluid under pressure fro an outsidesource may be supplied by 0 'ngnp the valve-controlled line 7 whic maybe either cut oil when the uisite pressure has been attained within thetires or may be left in communication with the outside source ofpressure, as the circumstances may require.

At the end of a curing heat, the press is opened up as heretofore andthe mold reiiig'treatment. If. lead, or other. similar collapsiblematerial, is used, it may be melted and reformed or discarded entirely,the quantity required being small.

The advantages of the invention have a1- art at least.

The simplicity and fool-proo character of the construction for manifoldiwill commend themselves to those skill in the art.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in connectionwith a French type of vulcanizing press, where the loadi movements ofthe molds is generally vertica it is not to be understood as so limitedas it may be applied to any other type of vulcanizingl press, such, forinstance, asone in which t e ram is operated horizontally, the molds 1ing in approximately vertical planes. n the claims, the term sections"is used to comprehend not only the' inner and outer shells of a mold butalso the reviously mentioned sealing-ring as this atter' also functionsas a mold part.

As many changes can be made in the details of the construction withoutde- -parture from the underlying principles, reference should be made tothe accom an ing claims for an understanding a t e breadth and scope ofthe invention, it being intended to comprehend therein the invention asfully and completely as the prior art ermits.

aving thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby. Letters Patent is 1. A- vulcanizing apparatus including pressmembers for subjecting molds to treatment, in combination with, meansrovided moved and prepared for another vnlcaniz-y its in each of themolds for conducting fluid under pressure to their interiors, sealingmeans for constituting said first-mentioned means a header upon closureof the press members, and means for conducting fluid under pressure tosaid header.

2. A vulcanizing apparatus including press members for subjecting'moldsto treatment, one of said press membei's being provided with a passage,in combination with, a plurality of molds, each of said molds consistinofn pluralit of sections provided with registrable ucts, one of saidsections of each mold having a branch duct communicating with thetire-receiving cavity, collapsible means for sealing the cracks betweenthe molds and their sections adapted to be rendered efl'ective byclosure of the press members, and means for closing off one end of theheader constituted by the registrable a rtures in the molds.

3. Tire canizin apparatus com rising in combination, a p urality ofmolds eac provided with a plurality of parts having registrableaperturea therein, one of said parts of each mold being in communicationwith its tirereceiving cavity, and means for closing ofl the aperturesbetween the parts of each mold and also between the molds whereby toconstitute the registering apertures a main header for supplying fluidunder pressure to the interior of tire casings within the plurality ofmolds.

4. A tire vulcanizing mold having outer separable sections and anintermediate section adapted to close 021' the space between the outersections adjacent their inner eriphery, the several sections being provied with re 'strable ducts. and the intermediate section eing providedwith a branch passage in communication with the tire-receiving cavitybetween the outer mold sections.

'igned at New York citv, county of New York, and State of New York, this8th day of ()ctobcr, l923i ERNEST HOPKIHSON.

